Isn’t it funny how there always seems to be that “one guy” in every audience that seems bound and determined to get the best of the speaker? I’m not going to oversimplify this by saying every tough question is asked for the same reasons, but we all know tough or even aggressive questions will eventually […]
My student finished presenting his persuasive case to the audience and then opened it up to questions. “Have you calculated the internal costs to our organization due to the downtime this project would cause?” When I saw my student’s face, I knew this hadn’t been part of his calculations. Every second the pause hung in […]
Out of all 4 mental hurdles, I struggle with this one the most. Agonizing… doesn’t that just sound awful? While the label may sound worse than what it really is, it can still crush your forward momentum. Agonizing creates a total lack of progress for one simple reason… Perceived Risk! When we see the risk as […]
I was introduced to Don Sanders through a mutual friend at lunch one day. Don and his co-author had written a book called Cut the C.R.A.P. and Resolve Your Problems. Kinda catchy, isn’t it! As psychologists they found that many of their patients could solve their own problems if they could just get beyond 4 […]
I was sitting in a conference-room meeting with one of our customers just observing. One gentleman did not speak much, but when he did… everyone listened intently. I tried to figure out what he was doing with his responses and I found something! He was using a simple structure for each response. Now, I’m sure there […]
I was not always a reader. Some of my professors in college spoiled me a bit on reading by assigning 200 pages of textbook to read in 2 days. But, now I have an alternate opinion. When I find the right book, I can consume it in a day or two. Below is a list […]
Kevin Karschnik is an amazing teacher and a great friend. I wanted to share his thoughts on visual aid design. We’ve all seen a speaker put every word they’re going to say on a slide and then proceed to read every slide to the audience. This is where the phrase “death by PowerPoint” was born. Please […]
There’s a popular tv show on the Discovery channel called Mythbusters. The premise of the show is to create experiments to test common myths that are not necessarily supported by scientific research. The show is entertaining because it usually involves something blowing up! In communication there are plenty of myths that deserve to be blown up! […]
When I first started speaking in the early ’90s I was flattered to hear from some audience members that I reminded them of Jim Carrey. “You definitely bring the energy!” I loved hearing that. My world crashed back down to earth real quick when former students were tested after class on the content. The organization wanted to […]
I bet you didn’t think I’d drop that deep question on you so early in the morning! Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all philosophical here on you. Pondering an answer to this question could take a couple lifetimes! So, let me tell you why I bring it up… It’s the foundation for anyone in […]
